Asking one simple question completely changed the trajectory of Jordan Harbingers life.

When Jordan was just an intern still attending law school he went to coffee with the top partner at his law firm. This particular lawyer had a reputation for never being in the office. But despite spending all his time playing golf and schmoozing clients, he still somehow made more money than all the other partners.

Jordan couldn’t resist the urge to find out what made this guy so special that he could make his own rules. So he asks him flat out:

We’ve been conditioned since a very young age to believe we have to work our lives around the obligations of a career. We take scheduled vacations, we play with our kids in the evenings after work, and we save a trip to the movies for Friday night.

It’s the way things have always been.

Because let’s face it, no matter how badly you want to be at home with your little ones or how much you want to travel you’ve got to make some money, and that means having a steady job.

Steady, reliable income means working steady, reliable hours. You can’t just come in when it suits you, or take off on a whim. Your work doesn’t care if there’s a great deal on a flight to California, and it doesn’t matter if your family needs you in Dallas.

Your work needs you here. And you need your work.

But innovations in business and technology are helping some people change the all of that. A new breed of entrepreneur is emerging that builds their business around their life, instead of their life around a job.

There’s a lot of joggers out right now, have you noticed? Fast ones, slow ones, big ones, small ones.

Joggers with new running gear. Joggers with strollers. Joggers who looked happy, and joggers I keep an eye on to make sure they don’t pass out in my lawn.

January is a month for beginning new things. Nearly every gym I know is holding some sort of challenge or special. My inbox at work is filled with once quite clients ready to get a jump on the new year. Everyone has something new they’re working on.

Awesome right?

Sure. But it won’t last.

In March the gyms will be back to the “usual crowd.” The trails won’t be packed with joggers anymore.

The excitement of new beginnings will be replaced with the steady beat of “the grind.” Next year… Next year things will be different.

In high school I sat near a lot of really smart kids. I liked to think I was among that group, but my transcript said otherwise. At graduation their robes were decorated with colorful accolades. Mine was black. Plain black.

College was the same story. I shared a lab with some brilliant people. But while they created brilliant new things, I struggled to understand the examples in the text book.

Years later I spent a couple years applying to some of the best business graduate programs in the nation. It didn’t work out.

It seemed the world was trying to tell me something. I’m not cut out for greatness. I’m not ‘Exec-level’ material. My dreams of running a great company weren’t meant to be I guess. I’m destined to work for a great company, not create one.

Lately I’ve been carrying a list of my top short-term goals in my pocket. It’s so easy to get distracted and to come up with new “urgent” things I need to be working on. If I’m not careful I’ll wind up racing from one shiny object to the next without ever really doing anything.

For the last few weeks my list has been one item long.

“Crush 2012” Workshop

If I really knew what I was doing this wouldn’t be so hard. If I had anything worth sharing this workshop would spring to life magically. The outline would flow out of me like a raging river and carry participants off to unimagined successes!

Have you ever wondered what was behind Starbucks meteoric rise to greatness? Was it just great coffee or was there something more that was driving it? Starbucks Chairmen and CEO Howard Schultz gives a glimpse behind the curtain in his latest book “Onward.”

Starbucks Story

Onward is the story of how Howard Schultz brought the company back to life. In the early 1980s Schultz was the Director of Marketing for a small coffee bean boutique named Starbucks. After a trip to Italy Schultz became obsessed with the desire to recreate the Italian coffee bar experience in America. When the Starbucks owners didn’t share his passion Schultz raised money and purchased the brand to pursue his dream.

We all know what Schultz was able to turn Starbucks into over the following two decades.

I stared blankly back at the fourteen JV high school boys huddled around me. The game was set to start in two minutes and they wanted to hear what their coach had to say. It’s time for last minute instructions. It’s time to instill in them the confidence that they were prepared for this. But I had nothing. It was a really uninspiring moment for everyone involved.

I grew up playing water polo. I’d been to hundreds of practices preparing for dozens of tournaments. I played at the NCAA level. But right then, in that moment, in my first pre-game huddle, I was failing as a coach.

I can’t remember exactly what happened in that game, or the one after that. But I remember being confused.

It’s Monday again, but I probably didn’t need to tell you that. Only five more days of work until the weekend! We’ve just got to get through this work week and then we can get back to our real lives next weekend.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Well what if you could change that? What if you looked forward to your work? What if you woke up energized each morning excited to head to the office?

No seriously. Imagine getting paid good money to do something you love. What would that be like?

I can tell you from experience that it’s awesome! I don’t mean to brag, but I love what I do and the company I work for. Every day I have the opportunity to do work I’m passionate about with an amazing team.